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Page 437
No one had bothered to close the forebuilding, and so far as Geoffrey could see in his hurried trip back, there were no defenders there, so that the keep itself, it not already taken, was open to anyone who wished to walk in. Ian shook his head and stepped out into the bailey. Behind him, he heard Jamie mutter "Stupid bastard," in the coarse northern dialect.
Sir Robert came up wiping his sword on a strip of tunic he had torn from some prisoner. Puzzlement was written large on his face. "My lord," he protested, "there were far too few men, and the keep was ill prepared for war. What did the fool think he was doing, to defy you in such a case?"
"I do not know," Ian replied. "Make all secure, Robert, calm the servants and set them to work again. Let us not look a gift horse in the mouth."
It was all he could say under the circumstances, as, above all, he did not wish to look this particular gift horse in the mouth. Stupid the castellan might have been, although it was not Simon's way to appoint stupid or untrustworthy menunless he had done it as a gesture to pacify "someone" in authority. Still, not even an idiot would have raised rebellion with his keep so undefended against retribution. The man had had time enough to prepare, heaven knew. And yet he did not prepare. Why? To that, there was only one answer. Because he did not expect that any attempt would be made to take his keep, not even when an army camped around it. Because he had expected help that had not come.

 
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